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Magic

The Golden Age of Magic Posters

January 23, 2020 - Eric Colleary

The turn of the twentieth century was a period of innovation, when advances in printing and color lithography coincided with a new golden age in the performance of magic and illusion. This convergence resulted in the most stunning, color-saturated advertisements in the history of magic. [Read more…] about The Golden Age of Magic Posters

Filed Under: Art, Digital Collections, Exhibitions + Events, Featured1, Theatre + Performing Arts Tagged With: Harry Houdini, lithography, Magic, posters, Stories to Tell

Houdini speaks to the living

September 28, 2016 - Harry Ransom Center

The trick is to bring Houdini back. Show him to us. Let us hear him speak, watch him make his magic, feel his presence among us, let Houdini live again! [Read more…] about Houdini speaks to the living

Filed Under: Exhibitions + Events, Research + Teaching, Theatre + Performing Arts Tagged With: Beth Burns, Harry Houdini, Harry Houdini collection, Houdini Speaks to the Living, Hungarian, Magic, Research, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Spiritualism, The Hidden Room, theater, tricks, verbatim theater

Houdini: Illusionist and collector

September 22, 2016 - Eric Colleary

Unidentified photographer, [Harry Houdini in chains and ball weights with police], ca. 1900. Gelatin silver print, 14 x 9.5 cm.

This Halloween marks the ninetieth anniversary of the death of the great illusionist Harry Houdini. Born Ehrich Weisz in Budapest in 1874, he got his start as a trapeze artist before turning his attention to magic. [Read more…] about Houdini: Illusionist and collector

Filed Under: Digital Collections, Exhibitions + Events, Theatre + Performing Arts Tagged With: Budapest, conjuring, digitized collections, Discoverie of Witchcraft, Ehrich Weisz, Harry Houdini, Harry Houdini collection, Hoblitzelle Theatre Arts Library, hypnotism, Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, Magic, magician, McManus-Young collection, Mystery!, playbills, posters, Ransom Edition, Reginald Scot, scrapbooks, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, sleight of hand and stage magic, Spiritualism, witchcraft

Artifact in Harry Houdini scrapbook collection highlights career of mind reader “The White Mahatma”

November 8, 2013 - Helen Baer

This page in the scrapbook highlights an engraved notice for S. S. Baldwin’s performances in Peking, China, in 1879, pasted above a review for an appearance at the Academy of Music (city and date unknown).

The Ransom Center recently launched a new platform of digital collections on its website, which includes the Harry Houdini scrapbook collection. More than 50 items from that collection, including the scrapbook highlighted in this blog post, can be viewed on the new platform.

 

American magician S. S. Baldwin (1848–1924), also known as “The White Mahatma,” was a celebrated mind reader or “mentalist” who made several tours around the world, initially with his wife and partner Clara Baldwin, and later with his second wife, Kittie Baldwin. The centerpiece of his act was a question-and-answer session in which he hypnotized his wife. Under his spell, she would answer questions from the audience without having heard the questions. Like his contemporary Harry Houdini, Baldwin insisted that he did not possess any supernatural powers, and he sought to expose spiritualism as trickery.

 

In 1924 Baldwin’s daughter Shadow sent Houdini her deceased father’s scrapbook from his fourth tour around the world. This magnificent scrapbook is an eclectic mix of photographs from places he traveled, juxtaposed with printed notices of his performances and other items. Many of the images reflect Baldwin’s interest in the indigenous peoples of the countries he visited.

 

The first image shows a piece of Baldwin’s stationery from his fifth world tour, ca. 1889–1890, embellished with skulls and devils.

 

The second image features an engraved notice for Baldwin’s performances in Peking, China, in 1879, pasted above a review for an appearance at the Academy of Music (city and date unknown).  Notably, the engraving was designed and printed by a local Chinese artist, Ning Foo Shang. Also included are photographs from Burma, British Guiana, and, somewhat incongruously, England (one photograph is labeled “Castle Gate, Nottingham”).

 

Click on the thumbnails below to view larger images.

 

This page in the scrapbook shows a piece of American magician S. S. Baldwin’s stationery from his fifth world tour, ca. 1889–1890, embellished with skulls and devils.
This page in the scrapbook shows a piece of American magician S. S. Baldwin’s stationery from his fifth world tour, ca. 1889–1890, embellished with skulls and devils.
This page in the scrapbook highlights an engraved notice for S. S. Baldwin’s performances in Peking, China, in 1879, pasted above a review for an appearance at the Academy of Music (city and date unknown).
This page in the scrapbook highlights an engraved notice for S. S. Baldwin’s performances in Peking, China, in 1879, pasted above a review for an appearance at the Academy of Music (city and date unknown).

Filed Under: Digital Collections, Theatre + Performing Arts Tagged With: Clara Baldwin, Harry Houdini, Kittie Baldwin, Magic, mentalist, S. S. Baldwin, scrapbooks, Shadow Baldwin, The White Mahatma

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